On March 22, UH West O‘ahu will host a free screening of Angelina Jolie’s Golden Globe nominated war drama In the Land of Blood and Honey. The Best Foreign Language Film nominee was not initially released in Hawai‘i and comes to the islands before its DVD release thanks to the efforts of UH West O‘ahu Political Science Lecturer Joshua Cooper.

Cooper first discovered the film and later secured the rights to the release in Hawai‘i after participating as a panelist along with the former President of Ireland Mary Robinson at the United Nations Expert Seminar Addressing Adverse Impacts of Climate Change at the Palais Des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Cooper was invited to the international seminar to present research on local adaptation strategies based on human rights-based approaches for dealing with climate change.

Much of Cooper’s research focuses on human rights and this theme is woven into his Politics and Film course at UH West O‘ahu. Angelina Jolie’s directorial debut In the Land of Blood and Honey, was incorporated as a central component of Politics and Film. Set against the backdrop of the war in Bosnia that tore through the Balkan region in the 1990s, the movie relates to many of the topics covered in the course. When the film was not released in the islands, Cooper began contacting fellow human rights advocates to encourage Jolie to bring the film to Hawai‘i for his class and the community.

“I was going to just show the DVD to my class when it was released,” Cooper said. “But, since it is the premiere and never showed in Hawai‘i yet, the production company sent out the original 35 mm film to give Hawai‘i the real experience of In the Land of Blood and Honey.”

In the Land of Blood and Honey tells the story of Danijel (Goran Kostic) and Ajla (Zana Marjanovic) two Bosnians from different sides of a brutal ethnic conflict. Danijel, a Bosnian Serb police officer, and Ajla, a Bosnian Muslim artist, are together before the war, but their relationship changes as violence engulfs the country. Months later, Danijel is serving under his father, General Nebojsa Vukojevich (Rade Serbedzija), as an officer in the Bosnian Serb Army. He and Ajla come face to face again when she is taken from the apartment she shares with her sister, Lejla (Vanesa Glodjo), and Lejla’s infant child by troops under Danijel’s command. As the conflict takes hold of their lives, their relationships changes, their motives and connection to one another becomes ambiguous and their allegiances grown uncertain. In the Land of Blood and Honey portrays the incredible emotional, moral and physical toll that war takes on individuals as well as the consequences that stem from the lack of political will to intervene in a society stricken with conflict.

UH West O‘ahu will host a free screening of In the Land of Blood and Honey on March 22 at 9 a.m. at the Kapolei Consolidated Theatres located at 890 Kamokila Blvd. The event is free and open to the public and will be preceded by a taped introduction from Director Angelina Jolie. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis. There are 250 seats in the theater. UH West O‘ahu Admission representatives will be on hand to answer questions about the University and the new Kapolei campus opening this August.

About UH West O‘ahu

UH West O‘ahu became a four-year, regional comprehensive university when it served its first class of freshmen in fall 2007. The University offers quality education, small classes and personalized attention at convenient locations. Construction began in August 2010 on the first phase of a new, state-of-the-art UH West O‘ahu campus in the City of Kapolei. It is expected to serve approximately 2,000 students for fall 2012 classes. For more information, visit uhwo.Hawaiʻi.edu, twitter.com/uhwestoahu, facebook.com/uhwestoahu or call 454-4700 or toll-free (866) 299-8656.